This thread contains the Subject CT4 questions asked most frequently by students, with answers written by ActEd's tutors. Each year, we'll incorporate these questions and solutions into the study material.
This thread was last updated on 5 October 2015.
No 1: Solving differential equations
Will we be expected to solve the Kolmogorov differential equations in the exam?
Answer
Yes, either by using an integrating factor or by using separation of variables. These methods are explained in Appendix 1 of Chapter 4.
See Question 5.17 in the notes for just such an exam question (which shows how to use the integrating factor method).
No 2: General question
Which recent old era subject questions are relevant to Subject CT4?
Answer
Many of the old Subject 103 and 104 questions are relevant. It should be reasonably clear when a question is no longer on the syllabus because (assuming you have read the course) you won't recognise the topic being examined, eg Brownian motion, finding premiums for a life insurance policy.
For a small number of questions, particularly those on simulation and multi state models, only parts of old questions are relevant.
We have reviewed the exam papers in Subjects 103 and 104 from April 2000 to September 2004 and list below the questions that are covered by the CT4 syllabus. For the 2010 exams onwards, policy year and calendar year rate intervals have been removed from the course.
The questions related to Subject CT4 are:
April 2000 exams:
Subject 103, Q3, Q11.
Subject 104, Q1, Q2, Q6, Q8, Q10, Q11.
September 2000 exams:
Subject 103, Q1, Q2, Q5, Q8, Q10.
Subject 104, Q5, Q6, Q9, Q10, Q11, Q12.
April 2001 exams:
Subject 103, Q2, Q8, Q9.
Subject 104, Q1, Q4, Q7, Q9, Q10.
September 2001 exams:
Subject 103, Q4, Q7.
Subject 104, Q1, Q2, Q5, Q6, Q8, Q9.
April 2002 exams:
Subject 103, Q6, Q7(i), (ii) and (iii), Q8, Q9
Subject 104, Q1, Q2, Q3, Q6, Q7, Q8.
September 2002 exams:
Subject 103, Q3, Q5(i), (ii)(c) and (iii), Q6, Q7(iii), Q10.
Subject 104, Q3, Q4, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q9, Q10.
April 2003 exams:
Subject 103, Q1, Q4(i), Q6, Q7, Q8.
Subject 104, Q1, Q3, Q4, Q5, Q6, Q8, Q10, Q12.
September 2003 exams:
Subject 103, Q1, Q2(i), Q4, Q8, Q9(i), Q11.
Subject 104, Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q6, Q7(i), (ii), Q11.
April 2004 exams:
Subject 103, Q3, Q6(iii), Q7, Q8.
Subject 104, Q2, Q5, Q7(i), Q8(i), Q9.
September 2004 exams:
Subject 103, Q1, Q2, Q3(i) and (ii), Q5, Q9.
Subject 104, Q3, Q5, Q6, Q9(i), Q10.
The Revision Notes for CT4 include all these past questions.
Note that following the removal of calendar year and policy year rate intervals from the course, the following past CT4 questions are now off-syllabus:
- September 2005, Q B3
- April 2006, Q B4
- April 2007, Q10(iii)
- April 2008, Q5
- September 2008, Q6
- April 2009, Q6
No.3 Duration-dependent transition rates (Chapter 6)
How important is it that we can perform calculations or derive formulae using duration-dependent transition rates (as in Section 9.3 of Chapter 6)?
Answer
Basically we can't recall there ever being any actual calculation or algebra questions on this topic in the exam, but there has been the odd mark for mentioning duration-dependence when suggesting possible improvements to models.
However, as always, you can never say never! - ie every now and again the examiners will ask a question "out of the blue" on a topic that's never really featured before, as any part of Core Reading is fair game in theory. While in an ideal world you would like to cover all topics equally thoroughly just in case they come up in the exam, in practice you will have to divide your time sensibly between those subjects that appear frequently and those that appear rarely, like this one. Remember that you don't need 100% to pass the exam!
Last edited by a moderator: Oct 5, 2015
